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fire extinguisher


bigcol

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From BSS Part 6. the failure reason list

 

Portable fire extinguishers must be in good general condition, and must not show any of the following indicators of poor condition:

 

• missing safety pin;

• dents; gouges; significant rust or other form of corrosion; perished hose;

• pressure gauge (where fitted) indicator in the ‘red’ sector;

• having passed the manufacturer’s express‘expiry’ or ‘replace by’ date;

• obvious under‐weight indicating whole or partial discharge;

• signs of damage to trigger assembly, including deterioration caused by ultraviolet light and heat.

 

NOTE – portable fire extinguishers having passed the manufacturer’s express‘expiry’ or ‘replace by’ dates are acceptable if supported by evidence of servicing in accordance with BS 5306 by a service technician within the last 12 months. Evidence must be in the form of a service label on the extinguisher and an associated invoice or service report on headed paper from a company recognisable as an extinguisher servicing company.

 

I think you will find that any extinguishers bought in the last five years in the UK will have engraved somewhere either a manufacture date or an expiry date. I understand the extinguisher is accepted if less than 12 months from manufacture date or within the expiry date.

Edited by Graham.m
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SOME are marked with an expiry date and if so that has to be in date...........

 

You would have thought so - but remember its boat surveyors we are talking about here.

 

I purchased my 'new' boat in May this year, it was fitted out in Belgium, and this was the first time on C&RT waters so it needed a BSS - the fire extinguishers ( and other 'stuff') are 'European'. they have a huge (almost inch high white lettering) printed " must not be used after Jan 2010"

 

I left them in place for the BSS - it passed with no problem.

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You would have thought so - but remember its boat surveyors we are talking about here.

 

I purchased my 'new' boat in May this year, it was fitted out in Belgium, and this was the first time on C&RT waters so it needed a BSS - the fire extinguishers ( and other 'stuff') are 'European'. they have a huge (almost inch high white lettering) printed " must not be used after Jan 2010"

 

I left them in place for the BSS - it passed with no problem.

 

It's worth keeping the out of date ones to use for false alarms. icecream.gif

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It's worth keeping the out of date ones to use for false alarms. icecream.gif

 

I keep my old pyrotechnics. I was just looking at them this morning - the oldest Parachute flare expired in 2002, but its 'sister' fired off without incident on bonfire night.

I tend to replace the flares 2 per year so there are always 8 or 10 in the 'grab bag' that are well within date, and a dozen of so 'out of date ones' available if needed.

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are you saying that the extinguisher is only acceptable if it within the expiry date, or is less than 12 months old, from date of manufacture?

 

the latter criteria appears to be very pessimistic.

 

Yes unless it has been serviced and the tech has labelled the extinguisher. Extinguisher are supposed to be serviced every 12 months. See BSS Part 6 the note

 

NOTE – portable fire extinguishers having passed the manufacturer’s express‘expiry’ or ‘replace by’ dates are acceptable if supported by evidence of servicing in accordance with BS 5306 by a service technician within the last 12 months. Evidence must be in the form of a service label on the extinguisher and an associated invoice or service report on headed paper from a company recognisable as an extinguisher servicing company.

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Yes unless it has been serviced and the tech has labelled the extinguisher. Extinguisher are supposed to be serviced every 12 months. See BSS Part 6 the note

 

NOTE portable fire extinguishers having passed the manufacturers expressexpiry or replace by dates are acceptable if supported by evidence of servicing in accordance with BS 5306 by a service technician within the last 12 months. Evidence must be in the form of a service label on the extinguisher and an associated invoice or service report on headed paper from a company recognisable as an extinguisher servicing company.

So extinguishers must be serviced every 12 months after the expiry date, but not every 12 months from manufacture.

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So extinguishers must be serviced every 12 months after the expiry date, but not every 12 months from manufacture.

Absolutely correct.

 

If the extinguisher has a 5 year expiry date then it doesn't have to be serviced for 5 years.

 

Tony

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So extinguishers must be serviced every 12 months after the expiry date, but not every 12 months from manufacture.

 

Thats where a problem lays. If the BSS Inspector see a date what is he going to say. I had one say be they are twelve months old, they must be serviced.

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But its only serviced once every four years because they are only "checked once every 4 years" so if its serviced this December, BSS next November then you HAVE to have it serviced just prior to the following BSS inspection, almost 5 years.

Yep I agree its silly. It is cheaper to buy new every four years than to service then. Think I have 9 on board at the moment.

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Mine have not got an expiry date on them but I had them serviced at the last IWA National I went to, I think it was about half the price of new ones.


Probably just as important is to take them out of their brackets and give them a good shake every 3 months or so (change the time period if you only visit the boat for 2 weeks every year)

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Mine have not got an expiry date on them but I had them serviced at the last IWA National I went to, I think it was about half the price of new ones.

Ah, thanks DC. So the cheapest route is, after the first 5 years if that's the expiry period, to service at half the cost of replacement just before each BSS inspection. Otherwise, if you find it unacceptable to have 'out of date' extinguishers, replace every 5 years with new ones showing a 5 year life. Regular annual servicing quickly becomes more expensive than 5 year replacements. Does that sum it up correctly?

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We where advised to keep our old 4kg powered ones onboard, and the new 2kg replacements do not have a flexable hose so are harder to direct into confined spaces.

 

We also have a foam extinguisher onboar and a short hose in the engine room.

 

 

Daniel

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We where advised to keep our old 4kg powered ones onboard, and the new 2kg replacements do not have a flexable hose so are harder to direct into confined spaces.

 

We also have a foam extinguisher onboar and a short hose in the engine room.

 

 

Daniel

I wonder who advised you.I wonder if it could be the same person who advise me to keep my foam extinguishers aboard.

 

Think I am going to have bring mine home and find someone local to service them, otherwise the insurance Co may not be happy if there is a fire.

Edited by Graham.m
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